Complaining about Windows Vista is a national past time on Internet forums these days. Windows Vista 'costs too much', 'has onerous product activation', 'requires too much hardware', etc. These complaints are often followed up by a very simple boast: 'I'm just going to switch to Linux'. But in today's landscape, how viable is that statment? Is the threat to switch to Linux an empty one, or is it entirely possible?"

Then your argument makes no sense. Open-source applications are not, by default, cross-platform. Therefore the fact that an app is open-source does not mean that it has to compile on Linux, or on Windows.

Your comment was: As it stands right now, Linux support and functionality is a subset of Windows support and functionality. And as long as the Linux community continues to use an open-source development model and as long as there exists even one Windows user with a C++ compiler, that is the way it will stay.

The 'open-source development model' does not preclude linux-only applications. Also, the presence of open-source applications do not preclude closed-source applications on Linux. Proprietary software can be compiled and run on Linux legally.

The 'open-source development model' does not preclude linux-only applications. Also, the presence of open-source applications do not preclude closed-source applications on Linux. Proprietary software can be compiled and run on Linux legally.

Prove it. Name me even one piece of closed-source software that only runs on Linux. A 'hello world' program that you wrote and compiled just to prove this point doesn't count.